To Cave or Not to Cave…

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“The important thing to you is not how many years in your life, but how much life in your years.” – Dr Edward Stieglitz

Padirac Chasm – starts out with a 338 foot deep sink hole.
We descended SO many sets of stairs…
until we hit the bottom – oh silly us – just the start of descending.
A “mysterious statue of a woman” to intrigue all visitors. 🤷🏽‍♀️
Nice reflection.
The cave contains a subterranean river system that is partly negotiable by boat, and it is regarded as “one of the most extraordinary natural phenomena of the Massif Central.” The Padirac River continues underground for about 9.9 miles until it flows into the Dordogne River. (Remember that river?)
Photos were not allowed while we floated down the river so I had to take pics of the pics to give you an idea. It WAS VERY cool!
The cave “art” was beautiful.
And nicely lit.
The guide paddled along and explained about the different formations.
I especially liked this one with an interesting reflection.
If you look closely you can see the type of boat we rode in. By the time we returned to the top, my Fitbit registered 5,000 steps – all of which were either upstairs or downstairs. It was a lot of walking but oh so interesting!
The following day we went to Grotte du Pech Merle – 29,000 thousand year old cave paintings. Due to the sensitivity of the drawings no photos were allowed, but check out the hand prints – may be a form of signature?
A bazillion years ago there was water that whirl-pooled at the bottom of this cave and turned rocks into “balls” that they referred to as cave pearls.

“The Dordogne’s limestone cliffs — honeycombed with painted caves — are unique on this planet. Long before Stonehenge and before the Egyptian pyramids, back when mammoths and saber-toothed cats roamed the earth, prehistoric people painted deep inside these grottoes.” – Rick Steves

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Published by murphys836

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11 thoughts on “To Cave or Not to Cave…”

  5. Those caves were exquisite & the rock formations were too. Very cool how the  twirling current eroded the rocks round.  Looking forward to seeing where you guys are off to next. 🙏🏻💕

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  7. Glad you chose to cave. Wonderful images to stir up the imagination. Reminded me of a book, “Clan of the Cave Bears.” If you haven’t read, I highly recommend. Good thing you took care of your knee before the trip. Congratulations

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